Ingredion launches sustainably farmed functional native waxy rice starches, flours

Ingredion Incorporated launches its first waxy rice-based texturising solutions that use sustainably farmed rice ingredients.

Consumers demand sustainable products that provide the expected flavour, colour and texture, and manufacturers need ingredients that deliver product performance and brand differentiation.

“Therefore, Ingredion has decided to take the next step in functional native rice solutions by sourcing locally and sustainably grown waxy rice. This enables our customers to offer the eating experience and label declaration consumers want and the sustainable sourcing and messaging they need,” says Daniel Haley, Global Platform Leader, Clean and Simple Ingredients at Ingredion.

It is Ingredion’s objective to source all grains sustainably by 2030. In collaboration with the Sustainable Rice Platform (SRP), Ingredion is the first food ingredient company to enter the sustainably grown waxy rice space. This has a meaningful impact on communities and the environment by reducing water usage, improving the security of communities and alleviating poverty. At the same time, Ingredion can further process these raw materials so that manufacturers and retailers can provide consumers with products they value inside and out.

“We are excited to see SRP-Verified waxy rice being introduced to the market by Ingredion. This is an important step forward in the space of food ingredients in offering more sustainably produced options to manufacturers and consumers. Sustainable rice supports improved farmer livelihoods, resilience to climate impacts, protection of the environment and is critical to global food security,” said Wyn Ellis, SRP’s Executive Director.

The farming practices have been shown to both reduce water and greenhouse gasses by 48%-93% and 22%-33%, respectively, without adversely impacting yields².  

This development is a result of the ongoing investment to support customers globally through the growth of the company’s speciality food ingredients business, as well as the conscious move to more sustainable sourcing.

“After significantly expanding our facility in Thailand in June 2020, we are pairing our growing capabilities with our Idea Labs Innovation Centers, proprietary consumer insights and the latest developments in sustainably growing and processing of our incoming raw materials,” says Brian Nash, Vice President, Corporate Sustainability at Ingredion.

Why rice? 

Rice is one of the world’s three leading food crops. What makes rice starch unique is its extremely high consumer recognition and acceptance by more than 76% of consumers globally, independent of any demographic or socio-economic factor.¹ Its unique smooth and creamy texture combined with its hypoallergenic properties, high digestibility and lower viscosity development make it ideal for a variety of uses. Waxy rice inherently has a superior stability in ambient, refrigerated and freeze/thaw conditions than other commonly used crops. The latest innovations in Ingredion’s rice portfolio, like NOVATION^® Lumina 8300/8600 functional native starches and the multi-functional rice flours HOMECRAFT^® Create 835/865 enhance the scope and appeal of these solutions even further.

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Sources:

¹N. Balaine et al, Soil & Water Management & Conservation, “Greenhouse Gases from Irrigated Rice Systems under Varying Severity of Alternate-Wetting and Drying Irrigation,” October 10, 2019

² Ingredion proprietary research, Global Clean Label Consumer Study, 2020